Nail polish-strip Tutorial

Happy Valentine's Day to all my lovely readers! <3
Unfortunately I couldn't make Valentine's nails for myself, since I have to keep my nails without nail polish for a while because of a piece I'm currently working on... (The background is a collage, and the glue that I'm using kept removing and messing my manicure, so I decided to wait until I finish it.) It's a shame though, I love Valentine's Day! I'll definitely do a late Valentine's mani later... ;D
Anyway, I do have another tutorial for you. OMG Nail Strips also sent me nail polish strips to try, and I was actually looking forward to try these more than the nail foils, because I got the idea that these would work better on curved nails. So I saved the best for last! I chose the Cheetah Nail Polish Strips, because I wanted something I couldn't create by stamping or polishing. Also I love animal prints on nails! Here's how they turned out:

I love them! Since nail polish strips are very easy to use, I wanted to do something extra...and then I maybe went a bit over the top. :'D Now for the tutorial:

1. Pick the size that fits on your nail the best.
2. Remove the clear plastic from the top of the nail strip.
3. Remove the paper from the bottom.

4. Place the nail strip on your nail so that the round edge is towards the cuticle. It doesn't matter if the nail strip is too long, you cut the extra off later.
5. Push the nail strip with your finger starting from the middle towards the edges. You can strecth the sticker to fit perfectly even on curved nails. Smooth out any bumps or wrinkles with your finger and remove the excess nail strip from the tip with nail scissors or file and smoothen the edge of the nail strip by pressing it firmly on the tip of your nail. Top coat isn't necessary, since the nail strip itself gives a shiny finish, but I thought that it would secure the edges from peeling off.

I'm actually in love with these now, I love the fact that these are stretchy and the end result is so smooth! Even though I eventually found a way to apply nail foils smoothly (my previous post), the nail polish strips are so much easier to apply, and even get a better result! Also, needless to say, that print is just gorgeus.
I wanted to save some of these for another manicure, so I only did two nails with full cheetah print and just the tips for the rest. You don't need base coat with these, so I just did the tips first and then applied base coat and Winmax Nail Sparks 87 on the rest of the nail, not polishing over the tip. Then I added a layer of top coat and sticked the micro pearls and rhinestones on the wet polish, and added one more top coat layer over the decorations to keep them at place. Despite all the 3D stuff poking out, these surprisingly lasted for over a week, until I decided to change them. :)

What do you think? Any experiences with nail polish strips, good or bad? :)

Red & Gold Christmas Nails

I hope everyone had a peaceful christmas! ^^
Here's how my nails looked like during the christmas holidays:

I wanted to use the mini polishes by OPI because I was so inspired by their christmasy colours! :D So first I polished my nails with two layers of Goldeneye. Then I sponged The Spy Who Loved Me on the tips, and started decorating! ^^ I used Golden Rose nail art polish for the snow flakes, and I'm so happy with the way they turned out, since it's been so long since I last did snow flakes... Then I felt they needed a little something more so I added the rhinestone on the ring finger. :)

Whee, they are so sparkly! :D I loove Goldeneye, I actually think it's my favorite polish at the moment!
See you guys soon, enjoy the holidays! ^^

The World Is Not Enough

Merry Christmas everyone!
Christmas nails are coming up soon, first I want to introduce the first manicure I did with my  new mini polishes. :)

I used The World Is Not Enough, which was a bit opaque, but with 3 layers I got enough coverage. Although I love all the four polishes, this was my least favorite out of them so I decided to save the best for last and start with this one. Besides Goldeneye and the Spy Who Loved Me just scream 'christmas manicure!', so that's what I'm planning to do with them. ;)

My camera doesn't do justice to this polish... I can't really decide what colour it is, which is why I had a hard time figuring out how to decorate it, but eventually I decided it's silver and went with white nail art and rhinestones. I also used tiny white roses and micro pearls. :)
Next up, christmas manicure! ^^

Shimmery Swirls

Hey everyone! ^^
I'm still not able to upload photos from my phone, but I figured I can send them to my email and then upload them to photobucket and then upload them here.... Complicated, I know, but for now it's the best I can do. :P

I did these nails in Finland, where I had the chance to use some of my old polishes I had left there! :') First I sponged the purple Flormal polish on the tips and then added one layer of Happy Anniversary! by OPI on top. Black swirls I did with a nail art polish.

I edited this one on my phone... Photoshop is so addicting! xD

Diamonds & Gold

Hello everyone!
I recovered (hopefully!) from my previous blogger crisis... Let me know if you can see the pictures, I have now started to use Photobucket, hopefully successfully! :) Thank you so much for the advise, shiny! Huh, maybe I've learnt my lesson - from now on I'll think before I upload. =_= Still, I love posts with lots of pictures, why does blogger have to be so greedy? >:(

So, as I promised - my latest nails! I hadn't done anything special on my nails for so long, that I almost went over the top.... :'D But I am so happy with the result! Also I kinda felt I had to prove myself I can still create beautiful nail art and details!

I used Be a Dahlia Won't You? by OPI and Golden Rose nail art polish in gold for the swirls. I just love that polish, it would've been gorgeus even without the decorations but oh well. The diamonds and micro pearls are from a local craft store. :)
Also, lately I havent been happy with the quality of the pictures on my old Olympus digital camera, so I've tried to take my nail photos with my Canon supercamera... xD Sadly I only have this huge zoom lense, which is perfect for taking pictures from long distance, not so great for trying to take close ups from your own nails if you know what I mean... :'D Haha, I need my own nail photographer if I wanna keep up with that camera. :P What do you guys think of the quality? worth it?

I know these are a bit out of focus, I have to use auto focus because I can't focus manually with one hand. ::D Well, I keep practising, see you soon! ^^

Petals

Direct sunlight

I bought some new OPI polishes lately, and of course I had to try them out! :D This is the design I made. I used "Be a Dahlia Won't you?" first, the polish is very covering but I used two layers to make it last longer. Such a beautiful pink with tiny golden flakes that unfortunately don't show in my photos... :'D

Next I did the petals with Kiss white nail art polish. Then I added some "I Lily Love You" by OPI on the tips, and done! I wasn't sure where this design was going when I started polishing, but I really like the result! ^^

I just love those colorful flakes! x)

Christmas & New Year's nails

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012  to my beautiful readers! <3 These are the nails I made for new years celebrations. :)

I went to manicure at 25th and the polish was still flawless so I just decorated the nails. :)

I wanted them to look like fireworks... So I started off with silver and gold nail art polishes...

...and finished the nails with LOTS of glitter! :D

Writing with my left hand felt too challenging so I just put the 2012 on thumb. :P

It's amazing how fast last year went by, and how much happened to me! Luckily mostly good things. ;) I moved abroad and I have met so many amazing people I never even dreamed about. Last year was definitely unforgettable, and I wouldn't change a thing! I just hope that this year will be as good for everyone. x)

Polishes I used: H&M "Gold" and CND "VIP Status" to add some sparkle. :)

These were my christmas nails! I wanted something quite simple but christmasy, so I used colors that remind me of christmas, gold and red. :) I really liked the result, and I had these on for quite long, since even the rhinestone stayed on. :)
I hope you all had wonderful christmas and that everyone's year has started off nicely! ^^

Some more stripes

Before decorations

Helloo everyone! ^^
Classy zebra stripe design this time... :) I wanted something simple with basic colors, so this is what I came up with. I did these a while ago, when my nails were still long... I just recently shortened them and made the shape more round again. :P

So what do you think? :) Oh, this time I actually remembered to take a photo of polishes I used:

Golden Rose silver nail art polish and H&M Ocean Sand.

Btw, you may have noticed that I changed my blog's background recently... I loved the pink one, but it started to bug or something, it didn't cover the whole screen and stayed as just a tiny picture in the center of the page. :/ And since I am such a computer noob, I had no idea how to fix it so I just changed the whole thing. I like this new one also, but it just takes time to get used to it. :P What do you think, better? Or would you have preferred the old, pink one? :)

Think Pink ;)

Oh yes, October was breast cancer awareness month... And these are the nails I did then. :) Actually I only did pink nails in October, at least that's how I feel, looking back the pics now... :'D
I used the pale pink, shimmery Claire's polish as base, then sponged another pink Claire's polish on tips. I made the ribbon on ring finger first with white Kiss nail art polish, then I colored it with pale pink Nail Star -nail art polish leaving a bit of white on the edges. On other nails I did flowers and random dots with the same nail art polishes, white and pink. And finally on top of everything I glued few round rhinestones! ^_^
That's it this time! x

Lisää kuvateksti

Rintasyöpä-kuukausi (mikä se nyt virallisesti onkaan suomeks? :'D) oli ja meni, mutta tälläset kynnet tein silloin. :)
Ensin laitoin yhden kerroksen vaaleaa, shimmeristä Claire's lakkaa, ja kärkiin töpötin pinkkiä Claire's lakkaa. Nimetömän nauhan tein ensin valkoisella Kissin koristelulakalla, ja lisäsin keskelle vaaleanpunaista Nail Star koristelulakkaa. Reunat jätin valkoiseksi. Muihin kynsiin tein kukkia samoilla lakoilla ja lopuksi lisäsin vielä pyöreitä strasseja. :)

The ribbon came out a bit thick and there's few bubbles too... Otherwise I like the way it turned out :'D

Oriental

Hello!!
Long time no see, and this time I have quite resent nail design to show you! :D Ok ok I made these few weeks ago but it's still recent compared to those I did in Finland. :'D
I used The One That Got Away from OPI Katy Perry collection, it's one of my favorite polishes! :D I did the golden ornament things with Golden Rose nail art polish. :)

ps. Thank you everyone for your sweet comments in the previous post, I really appreciate it! <3

Eli vähän uudemmat kynnet pitkästä aikaa, pohjana käytin OPIn Katy Perry kokoelmasta The One That Got Away, yksi mun lempparilakoista tällä hetkellä! :D Kultaiset kiemurat tein Golden Rosen koristelulakalla. :) 

Merry Midnight

Hellooo everyone! ^^
Another design from summer. :) I simply polished my nails with OPI Merry Midnight and then painted a heart on ring finger with Golden Rose nail art polish.

Such a pretty color! ^^

Taas vähän vanhemmat kynnet ja tällä kertaa vähän yksinkertaisempaa, nämä tein kesällä. :) Lakkasin kynnet OPIn Merry Midnightilla ja nimettömään tein sydämen Golden Rosen nail art lakalla.

Black&Blue Zebra Stripes

Finally something more recent! :D This was the last design I did in Finland... Inspiration is straight from HERE. ^^ This was also before I cut my nails shorter again. :P

Before sequins... Somehow it looks a lot more simple without them. ::D

First I polished my nails with one layer of some old Claire's polish which number I can't remember... But it's a cute, sheer pink with some shimmer in it. :) Then I sponged this very old blue polish on the tips, the polish is sooo old, I got it for free with some magazine years ago but it's still working! :DD The name has faded away though. :/ I did black stripes to the tips with black Kiss nail art -polish, and added tiny blue sequins for some more details. :) I really like how these turned out! ^^
You already know what happened to my sister's blog, and I decided to let her post her nail things here as guest blogger until she works out how to create new blog. :) So that's what's coming up, besides my own nail designs of course! ^^

Vähän uudemmat kynnet tällä kertaa! :D Tein nämä juuri ennen kuin lähdin Suomesta ja leikkasin kynnet lyhemmiksi. :)
Pohjana on yksi kerros Claire'sin vaaleanpunaista lakkaa, en nyt muista sen numeroa mutta se on aika vanha, läpikuultava ja shimmerinen. :) Kärkiin töpöttelin vanhaa sinistä lakkaa jonka sain joskus vuosia sitten jonkun lehden mukana... Nimikin on kulunut jo pois. :'D Mutta toimii vielä ihan hyvin! Sitten tein kärkiin vielä mustia raitoja Kissin nail art lakalla ja lisäsin vielä minipaljetteja. ^^
Tiedätte varmaan jo mitä siskoni blogille tapahtui... :/ Päätin antaa hänen bloggailla välillä kynsijuttujaan tänne, siihen asti että saa perustettua uuden blogin. :)

Flowers

Helloo everyone! <3 Our internet hasn't been working again... Otherwise I love being here, but seriously how hard can it be to make things work as they're supposed to?? :P Anyways, today they fixed it and hopefully it will last more than couple days this time.
This is another design I made during summer. Very basic, just flowers over sheer shimmer polish, but I loved it! ^^ I did the flowers with my white Kiss nail art polish, and added some silver in the leaves with Golden Rose nail art polish.

I also visited my friend who i hadn't seen literally in years!! :D It was so great to see her again, we had so much to talk about... I also did her nails:

Yeey aren't they cute? ^^
I'll try to update more often, because I have so many designs waiting to be posted here, and I've done lots of new designs and also bought some new gorgeus polishes... ;)

Jälleen yhdet kynnet jotka tein kesällä, aika perus kukkia mutta tykkäsin näistä kovasti! <3 Tein samantyyliset kynnet myös kaverilleni jota kävin moikkaamassa pitkästä aikaa! Oli kiva jutella, varsinkin kun ei oltu oikeesti nähty vuosiin! ^^
Yritän postailla tänne juttuja useammin, mulla on vieläkin monta julkaisematonta juttua kesältä ja täällä tapahtuu koko ajan lisää... :DD Toivottavasti tää netti nyt toimii tällä kertaa vähän kauemmin kuin pari päivää, se nimittäin korjattiin taas tänään kun ei ollut toiminut viikkoon... =_=